Litecoin (LTC)

Mar 09, 2018 at 9:41

Litecoin is a decentralized, peer-to-peer, open source cryptocurrency that enables international transactions throughout its network. Since its establishment in 2011 by Charlie Lee, it has enjoyed more than its fair share of controversy including the founder’s own recent decision to sell almost all of his Litecoins. At the same time, it has garnered notices for some of its groundbreaking innovations such as Litepay, which positions itself as one of the rare platforms that have successfully created a link between cryptocurrency and the traditional financial cards.

The factors that Litecoin claims that put it a notch higher than its counterparts are faster transaction times and a greater storage capacity. Another supposed advantage is its transaction volume which is said to be higher than Bitcoin’s. This translates to faster confirmation times by the merchants, as well as the capacity to increase the number of transactions without having to resort to software modification.

Litecoin is apparently surpassing Bitcoin too as far as the number of coins are concerned. Its network has been forecasted to generate 84 million Litecoins or four time as much that is expected of Bitcoin. Miners who are able to find one or several of Litecoin’s 840,000 blocks are awarded 25 Litecoins.

Despite its claimed advantages over Bitcoin, Litecoin users often have to buy Bitcoins first and then trade them for Litecoins. This is the practice to date because there are only a few exchanges that sell Litecoins directly to the buyer, such as Bitrush, Kraken, Litecoin Local, and Snapcard which have made Litecoins available in the U.S. and some countries in Europe like Belgium. In all these exchanges, purchasing a Litecoin entails buying a wallet first, changing the local currency into Litecoin, and then storing the bought Litecoins in the wallet.

Litecoin owners will be happy to know that soon they can use this cryptocurrency in real-world (not just online) stores that have formed links with its Litepay. The Litepay network issues debit cards that can be used in any store in the world that accepts these cards. Once a Litecoin user sends his coins to a Litepay debit card from his wallet, he can purchase goods and services from companies that recognizes debit cards. Litepay has been scheduled to launch the last weekend of February.

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